The Old Mill (1937)
November 5, 1937Release Date
The Old Mill (1937)
November 5, 1937Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently The Old Mill is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Disney Plus
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Marie Arbuckle
Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Jean MacMurray
Crickets (voice) (uncredited)
Louise Myers
Birds (voice) (uncredited)
Clarence Nash
Frogs (voice) (uncredited)
Marta Nielsen
Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Jerry Philipps
Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Barbara Whitson
Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Elvia Allman
Birds / Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Beatrice Hagen
Singer (voice) (uncredited)
Wilfred Jackson
Director
Walt Disney
Producer
Jack Hannah
Animation
Leigh Harline
Original Music Composer
Cy Young
Animation
Jack Atwood
Assistant Director
Art Palmer
Animation
Media.
Details.
Release DateNovember 5, 1937
StatusReleased
Running Time9m
Content RatingNR
Budget$50,663
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
The Old Mill is a Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released theatrically to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937. The film depicts the natural community of animals populating an old abandoned windmill in the country, and how they deal with a severe summer thunderstorm that nearly destroys their habitat. It incorporates the song "One Day When We Were Young" from Johann Strauss II's operetta The Gypsy Baron.
The Old Mill was the first Silly Symphony cartoon to be released by RKO and was added a new Silly Symphony logo, some new titles, and a burlap background which was used for several other Disney theatrical cartoon series like Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Pluto the Pup.
Like many of the later Silly Symphony shorts, The Old Mill was a testing ground for advanced animation techniques. Marking the first use of Disney's multiplane camera, the film also incorporates realistic depictions of animal behavior, complex lighting and color effects, depictions of wind, rain, lightning, ripples, splashes and reflections, three-dimensional rotation of detailed objects, and the use of timing to produce specific dramatic and emotional effects. All of the lessons learned from making The Old Mill would subsequently be incorporated into Disney's feature-length animated films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which was released a month later, as well as Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Bambi (1942).
In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".